Still, 988’s launch is a landmark moment. Read More: How 988 Will Transform America’s Approach to Mental Health While people who work in the mental-health field are optimistic about the potential 988 represents, hardly anyone-not even Palmieri-expects the system will work seamlessly at the outset. Department of Health and Human Services, which funds the Lifeline and is helping states implement 988. “We are sitting in the context of a system that is fragmented and frankly has a lot of gaps in terms of providing services for individuals,” says John Palmieri, director of 988 and behavioral health crisis at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) within the U.S. Funding, staffing, and insurance reimbursements will all be a struggle. 988 will require building a compassionate crisis response system in a country that has historically underfunded and dismissed mental-health services. Ashwin Vasan, New York City health commissioner.īut there are massive hurdles to turning that vision into reality. “988 represents probably the most potentially transformative federal legislation in mental health that we’ve seen in decades,” says Dr. Those settings are more appropriate for people with mental-health crises than where they currently end up - in the emergency room, jail, or, in worst cases, the morgue, if the incident escalates into deadly violence. If those interventions aren’t sufficient, 988 will also direct people to stabilization facilities-mental-health facilities where trained staff can observe and provide additional counseling and support-or residential facilities for longer term care. When a person calls 988, a certified counselor at a call center, ideally located near that person, will guide them through the crisis in the majority of cases and, when more help is needed, send a mobile crisis team made up of mental-health experts and peer-support counselors. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline will dramatically expand the capacity of call centers to answer calls, with the goal of instantaneously connecting people suffering mental-health crises to mental-health professionals-instead of police officers or EMTs, not all of whom are not trained to or comfortable de-escalating emergency situations involving mental illness. On July 16, the federal government will phase out the Lifeline’s clunky number -80-and launch a new three-digit number, 988, for anyone in a mental-health crisis.
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